An artist with local ties will be completing one of the art pieces for the Lester Buresh Family Community Wellness Center.
Christine Rebhuhn, a Mount Vernon school alum and New York artist, presented a proposal for the artwork at the Monday, Nov. 21, city council meeting.
City administrator Chris Nosbisch said the design for the Buresh Center included artwork.
“We have a piece of art for the exterior we still need to commission,” Nosbisch said. “We were delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic on some of these art pieces, and this is one of the pieces we have promised.”
Rebhuhn’s piece will be hung in the entryway of the wellness center. That choice was to keep the piece from being damaged as much as possible in the center.
Rebhuhn presented two bids to the city, one if the project was constructed in the Mount Vernon and Iowa City communities, and one if the artwork has to be finished in New York and potentially transported back to the Midwest.
One of Rebhuhn’s needs for the project – finding a shop space to work at for one to two months locally for the fabrication of the piece, which will require some lacquer painting and work to construct before it is officially hung in the Buresh Center. If she is unable to find a studio space locally, she will have to complete most the work at her studio in New York and then transport the work to Mount Vernon for installation.
Her other concern was finding a structural engineer she can work with to discuss how to adequately hang the project.
Nosbisch said they are communicating with the designers of the Buresh Center to see what structural engineers they would recommend who could help them determine how much work is needed to hang the piece.
“It really depends on the final weight of the piece as to how much bracing will be required to hang this piece,” Nosbisch said.
Rebhuhn said that she estimated the piece could be in the neighborhood of 500 pounds in weight.
Rebhuhn said her preference would be to make as much of the piece in the Mount Vernon area as possible, and the largest portion of her budget is the fabrication to begin with. Her space rental and housing for two months around installation still need to be determined, as does the cost of lacquer painting.
Rebhuhn’s piece will use an 1890 Steinway grand piano, being provided by Mount Vernon classmate Zach Bostwick.
Rebhuhn has done a previous piece with a piano that Bostwick provided after they met in April 2020. That piece led to Rebhuhn opening her first solo exhibit in New York City in 2021.
“That piece marked a significant turning point in my career,” Rebhuhn said, in background on the piece. “That chance encounter, which seemingly happens a lot In Mount Vernon, changed the course of my work, and I am forever imprinted by that series of events.”
Another question was the insurance, during construction and installation.
Nosbisch said that insurance for the piece, once it is installed, will be under Mount Vernon’s insurance umbrella.
“There’s really no way to insure a piece of art, as the value is in the eye of the beholder,” Nosbisch said. “If we replace because something catastrophic happens to the building or the piece, insurance would issue a settlement for the value of what the piece was constructed out of.”
Council member Craig Engel said he was excited about this piece.
“The council has always wanted to promote local artists, patrons and merchants,” Engel said. “Even when we’re looking for large pieces of art, we want people who have connections and roots to the area.”
Council member Paul Tuerler appreciated Rebhuhn documenting the creation of the piece as well, to help people years later remember and connect to the piece and why it was installed.

Gallery • 1 Photos

--Contributed photo

Christine Rebhuhn